


Her Scalpel

by AdelaCathcart



Series: Request Fics [1]
Category: His Dark Materials (TV), His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, The Book of Dust - Philip Pullman
Genre: Academia, Gen, Pre-Canon, Setting-Typical Sexism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27519655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdelaCathcart/pseuds/AdelaCathcart
Summary: While on a visit to Oxford, Lord Asriel reviews a philosophy paper written by a passionate, if unscrupulous, undergraduate student.
Relationships: Lord Asriel/Marisa Coulter
Series: Request Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2029141
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	Her Scalpel

“Asriel, before you go, have a look at this, would you?”

George Papadimitriou had balanced the silver tea-tray on his hip to riffle through a stack of papers on his cluttered desk. Asriel kept one eye on the listing milk pitcher, its contents gently lapping ever closer to its lip, too transfixed by its slow progress towards catastrophe to think of intervening. At last Papadimitriou unearthed the manuscript he wanted; he stood up and the tray righted abruptly. A few drops of milk dribbled over the pitcher’s side.

“Watch that,” Asriel said blandly, taking the pages. “What’s this you’re giving me?”

“Undergraduate work. A paper I’m supposed to grade, but to be frank I don’t even know where to start. The topic is moral philosophy—I thought you might be more familiar with the subject. Just read it through and tell me whether you think the student’s ideas are sound.” Papadimitriou collected the rest of the tea things and disappeared into the kitchen, and soon the pleasantly domestic sounds of washing-up rang through his rooms. With an ankle balanced on the opposite knee and a hand absently stroking his snow leopard dæmon’s head, Asriel settled in and began to read.

“Well, the factual support is all in order, and the conclusions are sound enough from a logical standpoint, but I don’t know whether to characterize his argument as laughable or deranged. To justify human vivisection on the grounds of Utilitarianism—you can assure your student that more learned men than himself have tried it and failed. It’s a grotesque position to take, but he’s very persuasive. I certainly can’t fault him for his passion. Let us hope that, ah”—Asriel paused to glance at the paper’s heading before handing it back—“M. van Zee plans to focus his future studies on science rather than ethics. What are you teaching moral philosophy to undergraduates for, anyway? Don’t tell me the history department finally sacked you like Constantinople.”

Papadimitriou scowled at the joke, but his greenfinch dæmon chirped a laugh. “It’s not even my class, really, it’s Hannah’s. I agreed to do them as a favor to her so she could go and see her brother this weekend. Most of those papers are utter sophistry, and as far as I’m concerned this one’s the worst of the lot. You can almost hear her sharpening her scalpel. But if you think there’s merit in it I suppose I won’t grade her _too_ harshly.”

“You suffer from a humanitarian bias, George. You know what they say about omelets and eggs.”

“You’re not serious,” Papadimitriou groaned, and rubbed his face in mock-despair as he opened the coat closet.

“Not entirely… Hannah’s class? A St. Sophia’s student wrote this?”

“That’s right.” 

“A pity,” said Asriel thoughtfully, knotting the scarf around his neck. “At Jordan she might have become a really fine scholar.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to a prompt from tumblr user @fitzchivalry: "What if, in the same or similar universe to your Fear of Fire fic, Asriel was at Oxford at the same time as Marisa van Zee?" 
> 
> Send a tumblr ask with a prompt to @torrefaction-of-silver and I might write you a mini-fic!


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